If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Comic Book Talk!

Ok. It's obviously no secret by now that I'm a big comic book fan. But it's also no secret that I'm not nearly alone on this board so let's bring this whole thing public. I've created this thread to talk about anything comics, so let's bring this one out in the open. It's a long offseason...

The book I'm most addicted to is The Walking Dead (Zombies) by Robert Kirkman. A truly great read and I'd advise any comic fan not reading it to pick up the Trade Paperbacks (getting the actual issues is VERY expensive). Y The Last Man (Brian K. Vaughn) is just behind that and is another exceptional read. The story moves slowly for both but the character development is unique. In The Walking Dead, there isn't a character that Kirkman won't kill. In Y The Last Man, there's one character that simply can't die (Yorick) because he's the only man on Earth. Even my wife loves that premise. Go figure...

I've always been much more of a Marvel fan than a DC disciple (I'm about 40 issues away from a full Uncanny X-Men run), but DC has been stepping up their writing currently with Infinite Crisis looming on the horizon. I've been reading all of the lead-ins to that series, but Day of Vengeance has been particularly good. The Spectre (now without a host and influenced by Eclipso) fragmented magic in the DC Universe and appears to have killed the wizard Shazam and he's released the Seven Deadly Sins into the world. That's a big deal and I can't see how that doesn't tie into the new Infinite Crisis storyline.

There's a new character in the DCU named "Black Alice" who gained exposure in the Days Of Vengeance series. She first appeared in Birds of Prey #76 (a HUGE "buy" recommendation) and her power is to "borrow" magic from others- even the most powerful magic users in the DCU. That's a Big Deal and she should be featured prominently in the upcoming "Infinite Crisis" maxi-series. My darkhorse pick for a premier role in that series is Tim Hunter (Books of Magic). Hunter is Harry Potter BEFORE Harry Potter was cool and now he's an adult. He's been in the background for 15 years and I have a feeling that he'll have a big role. JMHO, of course but hold onto Tim Hunter 1st appearance books if you have them.

JLA is just nuts right now dealing with the fallout of the Identity Crisis storyline and the mindwipes are coming back to haunt the JLA via Despero (who is finally portrayed as a bad bad villian). Wonder Woman has killed Maxwell Lord (Wonder Woman #219) and that doesn't bode well for her membership. The JLA might not be dissolving, but there's a crisis there and it's not helped by the events in the Villains United mini-series. I never figured that Catman would be a decent anti-hero, but I may have been wrong.

As a tip, if you can find copies of Justice League of America #166, 167, and 168 (the biggie) in any condition, they're selling extremely high right now because they're the first "mindwipe" issues as mentioned in Identity Crisis. Super HOT.

In any case, the Infinite Crisis storyline has been developing nicely and there are a number of lead-ins that hint at the actual crisis but don't actually tell us what's going to happen. At one point, I figured that The OMAC Project mini would be the primary lead-in but I'm not so sure now. DC seems to be shucking and jiving all over the place. That's usually a Marvel trait, but DC is one-upping them at this point.

Marvel Comments:

Marvel seems to have bet all their chips on the "House of M" storyline this year. IMHO, that's a bad place to be right now because their tie-ins for their primary books are confusing and will end up being nearly (if not totally) irrelevant. Oh, I suppose that they can figure out how to bring back Hawkeye from the dead, but they should have never killed him anyway. The Scarlet Witch just isn't a big enough character to worry about even if they did extend her powers at the end of the Avengers run.

Of the current books, New Avengers is intriguing and it ropes in a couple of top "solo" characters (Spider-Man, Wolverine) into to the mix and includes Spider Woman along with old faithfuls like Captain America and Iron Man. But the Big Thing in this Avengers incarnation is the inclusion of The Sentry. Yeah, the Sentry. For the newly-initiated, The Sentry began as a mini-series and was a joke. Yes, a joke. Marvel attempted to spin that the Sentry was a "lost" character from the Lee/Kirby days and built an entire history around him- including nearly every powerful Marvel character and team. We thought he was gone, but he's back now and he appears to be nearly Superman-level in power. Wonderful. That's all the Marvel Universe needs- Superman. Yeesh. Oh, don't get me wrong...I was buying Sentry #1 issues months ago because I saw the investment value in doing so but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

The best book Marvel may have going right now is Young Avengers. This one introduces a number of new characters into the Marvel Universe in issue one and even surprises us with the revelation that one of them is a young incarnation of Kang the Conqueror. Simply an excellent job of developing new characters and a real surprise. I don't normally pick up books simply because they're new titles, but I did with Young Avengers and was absolutely rewarded for it.

The Ultimate titles are getting a bit worn out right now. The best Ultimate book I've read in the past three months was Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #1 and only because it was an incredibly cute storyline (Petey and Kitty Pryde get together). The rest of the stuff is getting trite. Ultimates2 may be interesting due to Loki's influence, but Ultimate X-Men is really dragging and hasn't seen a really good issue for a while.

Runaways has always been a great read (for both myself and my wife) but is currently going stagnant as well. The previous Ultron plot was fun, but the book needs a direction. Great characters, but they have nothing to do. That's not a good thing.

Speaking of played out, I'm kinda tired of the Daredevil run. Everyone knows his identity (and has known it for like 30 issues) but no one can actually come to grips with it. Now the Kingpin wants to tell everyone what they already know. Yipppe. Blah blah blah. Some books I collect simply to have a full run and Daredevil might shortly qualify.

Speaking of Daredevil, Joe Quesada has finally (yes, finally) released "Daredevil: Father" #2 and #3 and he introduces the "Santerians" (sp?). Does anyone care? Really. Does anyone, at this point, care about new characters that wouldn't exist but for Marvel Editor In Chief's hubris? This series had a place if it were released on time from the get-go, but I had to wait 6 months for this kind of uninspired crap? Eh. No.

Speaking of waiting for uninspired crap, where is Secret War #4???? There's a reason I don't purchase anything with the words "Top Ten", "Astro City", and "Rising Stars" on it. J. Michael Straczynski and any author who can't produce quality on time is someone I've just crossed off my "buy" list. Straczynski could learn a lot from Joss Whedon and Judd Winick. And that's just for starters. The Babylon 5 creator couldn't hold Mark Millar's jock.

Best graphic novel I've read in the past 90 days: "A History of Violence". Yeah, most folks won't realize the movie is based on a comic, but it is. And that's cool. Road to Perdition might end up being the better movie, but A History of Violence should be an excellent flix if done well.

Last edited by SteelSD; 09-26-2005 at 06:03 AM.

"The problem with strikeouts isn't that they hurt your team, it's that they hurt your feelings..." --Rob Neyer

"The single most important thing for a hitter is to get a good pitch to hit. A good hitter can hit a pitch that’s over the plate three times better than a great hitter with a ball in a tough spot.”
--Ted Williams

Re: Comic Book Talk!

I've been reading the CrossGen Graphic novels. The Forge series was outstanding. I'm looking forward to reading Edge. The artwork IMO is incredible, and I like how everything ties together. The best read surprisingly is Route 666. I also very much like Negation. If you haven't seen these, check them out.

DC

Currently for me everything is revolving around Flash. I love the current story involving the two Zooms. JLA is always a favorite, but strangely I find the Cartoon actually develops a plot better than the comic. Especially lately.

Marvel.

Gotta agree with Johnny about House of M. I haven't read too much, but it seems a week ripoff of a great story: Age of Apocalypse. I love New Avengers. Spidey as an Avenger rocks. I also like the mini series about the Squadron Supreme/Sinister. A little on the mature side. definately not for younger readers, but well written.

Re: Comic Book Talk!

Speaking of indy writers, has anyone heard if Frank Cho is going to produce another issue of Liberty Meadows? Zombie King appears to be a pet project for Cho (he's a twisted puppy- don't let your kids read Zombie King #0) so I dunno if he's going to continue with Liberty Meadows. If not, that's a real loss. The wife loves that book.

TRF, Flash is one of those characters I just plain love but I have a hard time staying with that book. Dunno why. I picked it up through the "alternate Wally" run and then through around #210, but I dropped it after that, rejoined for the Zoom/Cheetah issue and then couldn't bring myself to stay with it through the Rogue Wars storyline. I think I might have dropped Flash in order to pick up the Green Lantern: Rebirth stuff (only so much a guy can buy). I've grabbed the first few issues of the Hal Jordan GL title and I'm not overly impressed with it so far. I thought there'd be a lot more fallout from Hal dropping back into the land of the living, but so far not much. I think I'll drop it and start reading Flash again. That book is just fun.

And on another fun note, I just got my copy of X-Men #1 (Marvel Milestone Edition) in the mail. That's not a big deal in and of itself. What IS a big deal is that it's signed by the late Jack Kirby (with COA).

My collection of major creator/artist autos is getting pretty large. I've got books signed by Alex Ross, Frank Miller, John Byrne, Stan Lee, Kevin Smith, Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, Dave Cockrum, Bill Tucci, Andy Kubert, Jim Steranko, George Perez, Joe Quesada, Frank Cho, and now Kirby and an art collection signed by Neal Adams. I'd still like to pick up autos from Neil Gaiman, Mark Millar, Brian Michael Bendis, Robert Kirkman, Judd Winick, Joss Whedon, Cassiday (Planetary, Astonishing X-Men), and Frank Quitely, but those will have to wait. I'm consistently amazed how cheap signed books are right now. I had a signed book by Joseph Michael Lindsner (Dawn), but some rabid Dawn fan offered me three times what I payed for it. Go figure.

Anyone collect signed stuff or original art? I'd love to get a few original pages (I have a total of one) but that stuff is SPENDY.

"The problem with strikeouts isn't that they hurt your team, it's that they hurt your feelings..." --Rob Neyer

"The single most important thing for a hitter is to get a good pitch to hit. A good hitter can hit a pitch that’s over the plate three times better than a great hitter with a ball in a tough spot.”
--Ted Williams

Re: Comic Book Talk!

"The problem with strikeouts isn't that they hurt your team, it's that they hurt your feelings..." --Rob Neyer

"The single most important thing for a hitter is to get a good pitch to hit. A good hitter can hit a pitch that’s over the plate three times better than a great hitter with a ball in a tough spot.”
--Ted Williams

Re: Comic Book Talk!

Geez, the only one's I've read are those early 60's era Spiderman, Fantastic Four, X Men, Thor, Daredevil, Hulk, Ironman, Dr. Strange, Sgt. Fury, and Captain America issues, in mint condition, that I found perfectly preserved a few years ago back home where I grew up.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
~ Mark Twain

Re: Comic Book Talk!

Speaking of indy writers, has anyone heard if Frank Cho is going to produce another issue of Liberty Meadows? Zombie King appears to be a pet project for Cho (he's a twisted puppy- don't let your kids read Zombie King #0) so I dunno if he's going to continue with Liberty Meadows. If not, that's a real loss. The wife loves that book.

TRF, Flash is one of those characters I just plain love but I have a hard time staying with that book. Dunno why. I picked it up through the "alternate Wally" run and then through around #210, but I dropped it after that, rejoined for the Zoom/Cheetah issue and then couldn't bring myself to stay with it through the Rogue Wars storyline. I think I might have dropped Flash in order to pick up the Green Lantern: Rebirth stuff (only so much a guy can buy). I've grabbed the first few issues of the Hal Jordan GL title and I'm not overly impressed with it so far. I thought there'd be a lot more fallout from Hal dropping back into the land of the living, but so far not much. I think I'll drop it and start reading Flash again. That book is just fun.

And on another fun note, I just got my copy of X-Men #1 (Marvel Milestone Edition) in the mail. That's not a big deal in and of itself. What IS a big deal is that it's signed by the late Jack Kirby (with COA).

My collection of major creator/artist autos is getting pretty large. I've got books signed by Alex Ross, Frank Miller, John Byrne, Stan Lee, Kevin Smith, Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, Dave Cockrum, Bill Tucci, Andy Kubert, Jim Steranko, George Perez, Joe Quesada, Frank Cho, and now Kirby and an art collection signed by Neal Adams. I'd still like to pick up autos from Neil Gaiman, Mark Millar, Brian Michael Bendis, Robert Kirkman, Judd Winick, Joss Whedon, Cassiday (Planetary, Astonishing X-Men), and Frank Quitely, but those will have to wait. I'm consistently amazed how cheap signed books are right now. I had a signed book by Joseph Michael Lindsner (Dawn), but some rabid Dawn fan offered me three times what I payed for it. Go figure.

Anyone collect signed stuff or original art? I'd love to get a few original pages (I have a total of one) but that stuff is SPENDY.

Have you read "Torso" by Bendis?

It's about the brutal dismemberments in Cleveland during the depression. I love his characterization of Elliot Ness.

Very dark, gruesome stuff.

And yeah, Stray Bullets is the bee's knees. Brilliant and brutal.

I actually got to meet Dave Lapham (not of ex Bengals offensive lineman fame) at The Laughing Ogre here in Columbus. I even brought him a sandwich in exchange for paperback. Cool guy.

Re: Comic Book Talk!

Originally Posted by RFS62

Geez, the only one's I've read are those early 60's era Spiderman, Fantastic Four, X Men, Thor, Daredevil, Hulk, Ironman, Dr. Strange, Sgt. Fury, and Captain America issues, in mint condition, that I found perfectly preserved a few years ago back home where I grew up.

Same here. Most of my comics are from 30-40 years ago. Close to a 1,000 of them. Paid anywhere from a dime up to 35 cents. Back then an annual only cost a quarter. But mine aren't in mint condition though. I didn't put them in plastic - I READ THEM! - over and over and over!

Just like I put all my baseball cards in the spokes of my bicycle.

And I'm with GIK -you just can't beat the Man of Steel (World's Finest, Superman, Adventure).

I was mainly into DC comics, but loved FF, Hulk, Thor, and Spiderman when they first came out.

Re: Comic Book Talk!

I'm ultra bummed that Johns is leaving FLASH and am worried about what's going to happen to the character. Over the last few years Wally has become my favorite character in comics. He's actually, you know, heroic and stuff...

There's been rumors that Waid might be doing another run on the book, if that's true, no worries. Could be Morrison, who's said over and over that Wally is his favorite character, and that would be cool too.

Just hope it's not Winnick, who while I like, just wouldn't work on Flash.

"But I do know Joey's sister indirectly (or foster sister) and I have heard stories of Joey being into shopping, designer wear, fancy coffees, and pedicures."

Re: Comic Book Talk!

JSA-Best team book on the market. The Black Adam stuff has been tremendously awesome.

Adventures of Superman-Greg Ruka is writing the best Superman in years.

JLA-Current storyline, like Steel said, is great. The Art hasn't been this good on the book in years.

Green Lantern-Unlike Steel, I'm actually digging the new book. It's been a slow burn to start, but it's getting ready to pick up big time. Haven't been able to pick up the new Green Lantern Corps book yet, but have heard great things about it.

Flash-With Johns leaving, I'm really nervous (as mentioned above), but there's been no better book for DC over the last five years.

Birds of Prey-So much better then any of the other "Bat" books it's not even funny. And Batman isn't even a regular character. Gail Simones is a rockin comicbook writer and "gets" Babs and Canary.

MARVEL

Daredevil-Currently in the middle of Bendis' last arc. Brubaker takes over in December.

Captain America-Best Marvel book on the shelf right now. Brubaker and Epting are ruling it right now. The Winter Soldier storyline rules all that is rulable.

New Avengers-Wasn't sure how this was going to be, but it's been a damn good book so far.

I'm reading some other stuff too, but those are the highlights..

"But I do know Joey's sister indirectly (or foster sister) and I have heard stories of Joey being into shopping, designer wear, fancy coffees, and pedicures."

Re: Comic Book Talk!

On the Marvel side, I am devouring all Spidey books. been very... human lately. The X titles have gotten more ridiculous as time goes by. Do any of these guys stay dead? The Danger Room coming to life is what killed me on the books, at least for a while. Didn't we already do that with Cerebro coming to life? I mean almost the exact same story. Rio Lobo/Rio Grande/Rio Bravo... Same movie. ugh.

BTW my son and I argued last night over who would win in a fight between Wolvie and Spiderman. I picked Spidey... stronger, faster, spidey sense. Plus he was Captain Universe once.

Board Moderators may, at their discretion and judgment, delete and/or edit any messages that violate any of the following guidelines: 1. Explicit references to alleged illegal or unlawful acts. 2. Graphic sexual descriptions. 3. Racial or ethnic slurs. 4. Use of edgy language (including masked profanity). 5. Direct personal attacks, flames, fights, trolling, baiting, name-calling, general nuisance, excessive player criticism or anything along those lines. 6. Posting spam. 7. Each person may have only one user account. It is fine to be critical here - that's what this board is for. But let's not beat a subject or a player to death, please.

Thank you, and most
importantly, enjoy yourselves!

RedsZone.com is a privately owned website and is not affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds or Major League Baseball